Ramblings of a Nocturnal Nurse

My Favorite Healthcare Podcasts

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a podcast hoarder. I am constantly listening to them, subscribing to new ones and unsubscribing from the ones that just didn’t grab me. Or maybe I just fell out of love with them. I have podcasts for different moods and circumstances. And, yes, they’re all sorted in my phone by category. Today my focus will be on those related to medicine, healthcare, nursing, and the allied health professions.

I am not affiliated with any of them, none of them are paying me (though I’m not opposed to the idea), and none of these podcasters even know who I am. You’ll notice that many toward the end are focused on palliative, which happens to be one of my specialties. I’m sure there are other specialty-specific podcasts out there. For now, check out my list of must-listen shows.

1. Weird Medicine. By far my favorite of all the healthcare shows. Totally uncensored, a healthy mix of humorous BS and actual helpful information from Dr. Steve and his crew. Lots of old episodes might be behind a paywall now, but they’re worth every penny. I literally binge-listened to this show while I was commuting to and from nursing school. Be warned, NSFW or kids. Lots of penis and poop questions as well as some other racy stuff. But I swear I learned a lot from these folks.

2. ALL of the channels from NSRNG: MedMaster Show, Lab Values, Nursing Mnemonics…the list is long. I use them like reference books rather than listening to them consecutively for entertainment. Great for reinforcement of material for nursing students and working nurses alike. I would listen to these short episodes while driving up to school to take a test, or before returning to work to take care of a patient with meds I wasn’t familiar with.

3. FreshRN. Kati Kleber can do no wrong in my eyes. I adore this show. These episodes are PACKED with information I’ve found incredibly useful…especially since I’m still in my first year of bedside nursing. I love her guests, her topics, and the casual conversational style of this podcast. Great casual listen to reinforce skills or to learn how to thrive in a complicated workplace.

4. Incident Report. Many of you may know ZDoggMD from his musical medical parody videos. I was introduced to him in my first semester Fundamentals of Nursing class when a teacher played his Hank Williams parody “I’ve Got Friends with Low Platelets”. I was hooked and his spoof songs became my class’ soundtrack for clinicals. Now that I’m a grown-up real nurse, I love his podcast for all the silliness and seriousness it contains. He also puts the podcast up on his YouTube channel in all the visual glory. As a bonus, he’ll do some NSFW Tribe Talk vids where he’s a bit edgier in his commentary.

5. The Report Room. To be honest, I’ve not spent much time listening to this one, but it’s on my list because they have many episodes covering topics I find interesting. I’m open to feedback on this one if you’ve spent any time with it.

6. The Nurse Keith Show. Oh man, there are so many Nurse Keith episodes. This is another one that I’ve only just begun to dig into. The topics are varied and relevant, and he appears to put out content on the regular.

7. RNFM Radio. I’ll be honest, I subscribed to this one because they did a two-part interview with one of my online Nursing mentors, Sean Dent. Their list of episodes spans the spectrum from social media use, leadership, education, and everything in between.

8. NurseStudy.net. This is another channel that I use as a reinforcement of learning. Short episodes are great as a reference tool for nurses and students.

9. Science Vs. This is not a healthcare-specific podcast, but they have some great episodes on things like zika virus, antidepressants, the G-spot, and acne.

10. Good News with Nurse Heather. The focus is cannabis and health care, holistic medicine, and legislation. As policy reform sweeps our country and our industry, information on this topic will be more important than ever.

11. Your Next Shift. These episodes highlight interviews with nurses of all kinds, giving insights and advice on successful career navigation.

12. Dance to Death Afterlife. Episodes about experiences with death, end of life care and a variety of burial options and death rituals. This is both a personal and professional interest of mine.

13. Dying Well, the Final Stage of Survivorship. This is a 12-part series on resources and thoughts on cancer survivorship and dying. While I’ve not listened to all of the episodes, this may be an excellent resource for patients and family members facing a life-limiting illness.

14. Palliative Care Chat – U of MD. This podcast was created for grad students at U of Maryland. It may be geared more to the physician role, but it’s loaded with information from researchers and educators from across the country.

15. Perspective in Palliative Medicine. This is another I’ve not consumed all of yet, but the few episodes that exist cover topics that I find interesting, like geriatric pain management, religion and end of life care, and delivering difficult information.

16. American Nurses Association podcast. It’s the ANA. Of course I’m gonna listen. 😉 There are only a few episodes as I write this, but they’re relevant and useful topics. There’s a series on workplace bullying and episodes on nursing delegation. I hope there are more eps in the hopper.

17. The Nurse Niche Podcast. This is one of NP Sean Dent’s old podcasts. Though he’s not making new episodes of this one, they’re worth a listen. It’s also interesting to see the online growth of the prolific social media nurse.

19. Weekly Infusion. For those of you familiar with Dr. Drew, you’ll be interested in his latest podcast endeavor. I hate to play favorites but I especially love his episodes featuring forensic pathologist and gory Instagram star Nicole Angemi. You’ll hear about her later when I blog about my fav IG accounts. (That one’s gonna be fun!)

20. I don’t have a 20th, but I can maybe leak that I have the itch to start a podcast of my own….so maybe I’ll save this spot. 😉

Are there podcasts on this list you listen to and love? Give me a like if you found this list helpful. Comment below if you have favorites you want to share!

Published by NurseDrizzles

I am a hard-working, night shift nurse specializing in pulmonary and palliative care. I work in a large hospital and am working on my BSN.
My opinions are only my own and do not reflect that of my employer or educational institution.
View all posts by NurseDrizzles